1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices adapted for introducing a surgical device into the body of a patient and, more particularly, to a device for controllably positioning a medical device within the patient.
2. Description of the Related Art
Endoscopic surgery allows for surgery to be performed while reducing damage to the surrounding tissue as compared to standard surgical procedures. An endoscope which may include at least one working channel, allows the insertion and deployment of various medical devices to the surgical site. The endoscope also provides visualization of the surgical site during the procedure.
Once the desired position of the surgical site is reached, a surgical instrument may be inserted through the working channel and protrude from the distal end of the working channel at the visualized surgical site. In some cases a bladed cutter is introduced to excise tissue from the surgical site. Such a bladed cutter generally requires connection to a handpiece that provides rotary or reciprocative motion to the cutting portion of the instrument. When the cutting operation is enabled, tissue is generally drawn through the mouth of the cutting instrument by suction and then is severed by the cutter. The suction also removes the dislodged tissue from the patient.
Unfortunately, during the procedure the handpiece must be constantly manipulated by the surgeon to control the extension of the instrument beyond the working channel of the endoscope, as well as the vertical/horizontal support of the scope portion. The extension depth from the endoscope working channel and the vertical/horizontal support of the scope portion must be constantly controlled using the surgeon's hand hand-eye coordination. This constant control of the instrument causes fatigue in the surgeon and makes it difficult to precisely position during the procedure.
Further, during an endoscopic procedure it is necessary to adjust the depth of the medical device within the patient in order to precisely target a lesion for removal. To this end, the cutting element must be accurately positioned adjacent the lesion. While conventional use of endoscopes systems allow for insertion of a surgical device through the working channel, they do not provide for adjustability and maintenance of depth registration with the surgical site by maintaining the protrusion of the surgical instrument from the distal end of the working channel. Additionally, conventional systems to not allow for the removal and reinsertion of the surgical device from the working channel while maintaining the original registration.
Accordingly, a surgical adapter is needed that precisely controls the protrusion of the medical instrument from the working channel without requiring constant attention to fine hand-eye coordination. Further, a need exists for a surgical adapter that facilitates adjustable and fixed positioning of the device within the patient, removal of the device from the working channel, and reinsertion of the device through the working channel to the same fixed position. Finally, a system that may provide additional safeguards against inadvertent tissue damage is also desired. Such a system would allow removal of the device from the working channel so that other devices or therapeutics may be introduced into the patient, as needed. The original device may then be reinserted into the working channel and reintroduced at precisely the same pre-removal orientation.